Around the state: FBI agent says hit on mayor was ordered

CHRONICLE WIRE SERVICES

April 20, 2012Updated: April 20, 2012 10:49pm

Photo: Ruben R Ramirez

A three-alarm fire raged for more than four hours on Thursday night, gutting
one of the oldest buildings in downtown El Paso.
Flames shot out from the top of the structure, as little by little parts of
the building were consumed, while more than 110 firefighters poured streams
of water from the ground and aerial ladders.
The building at 100 E. San Antonio had been a landmark in the heart of El
Paso since the 1880s. It had once been the First National Bank and the law
offices of famed gunfighter John Wesley Hardin.
Photo by Ruben R Ramirez/El Paso Times

A three-alarm fire raged for more than four hours on Thursday...

FORT WORTH - An FBI agent testified that a topless club owner accused of trying to organize the contract killing of a Texas mayor gave the order by saying, "Let's do the mayor. Let's hit him tomorrow."

The testimony Friday came before a federal magistrate ruled that Ryan Walker Grant remain held without bail. Grant is accused of orchestrating a plot against Arlington Mayor Robert Cluck and a city attorney.

The Star-Telegram reported that FBI Special Agent Matthew Wilkins said Grant gave the order to an informant.

An attorney for Grant questioned whether the informant, a convicted felon, had selfish motives. Authorities said Grant plotted the attack over a dispute about reopening his club.

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3 killed, 8 hurt during shooting at cockfight

McALLEN - Authorities believe the wild shooting that left three dead and eight wounded at a cockfight near the Mexican border was a hit on two brothers.

Three people were charged with cockfighting and engaging in organized criminal activity Friday just before officials identified the victims, who all had criminal pasts. The brothers believed to be the target of the shooting were among those killed. The gunmen remained at large.

Hidalgo County Sheriff Lupe Trevino described a chaotic scene when gunfire broke out at the rural cockfighting ring near Edcouch, about 15 miles northeast of McAllen just after midnight Thursday.

As many as 200 attendees trampled each other, and whatever evidence could have helped investigators piece together the ambush that witnesses said was carried out by between two and four masked gunmen. The scene was littered with an estimated 300 beer cans and some 20 dead roosters.

"Obviously they're amateurs," Trevino said of the shooters.

Historic El Paso building gutted by 3-alarm fire

EL PASO - Authorities say fire has destroyed a downtown El Paso building that dates to the 1880s and was once where a gunfighter practiced law.

The El Paso Fire Department on Friday reported nobody was hurt in the blaze that destroyed the structure.

Authorities are trying to determine what started the fire Thursday night at what was known as the John Wesley Hardin Building.

A 1962 historic marker described Hardin as "the West's most feared gunman" who killed at least 26 men. The marker says Hardin was shot dead at the Acme Saloon in El Paso on Aug. 19, 1895.

El Paso City Council member Steve Ortega says the Hardin structure was one of the most historic buildings in El Paso.

No damage estimate was released.

Judge refuses to throw out confession

WACO - A federal judge on Friday refused to throw out a confession from the soldier accused of planning to bomb a Texas restaurant filled with troops from Fort Hood.

Lawyers for Army Pfc. Naser Jason Abdo said authorities did not read his Miranda rights or grant his request for a lawyer before he told them of plans to blow up the building and shoot survivors. They also claimed the search warrant affidavit contained incorrect information, and asked the judge to suppress evidence obtained after Abdo was detained in July at a motel near the Texas Army post.

U.S. District Judge Walter Smith rejected the motions Friday after a hearing in Waco.

Abdo, 22, faces up to life in prison if convicted of attempting to use a weapon of mass destruction and eight other charges. His trial is set for May.

He was AWOL from Fort Campbell, Ky., when he was arrested. Authorities say they found a handgun, ingredients for an explosive device and an article titled "Make a bomb in the kitchen of your Mom" in his room and backpack. An article with that title appears in an al-Qaida magazine.

State OKs new math curriculum standards

AUSTIN - The State Board of Education has unanimously approved new K-12 math curriculum standards.

Members adopted the requirements with little debate or fanfare Friday, despite concerns from an influential state business group and others that they were not strenuous enough or otherwise flawed.

Texas is one of just five states that haven't adopted national standards in math and language arts in recent years, and has instead sought to devise its own set of stronger standards.

The new, 10-year kindergarten through eighth grade math requirements are expected to take effect in 2014.

High school standards should begin the following year.

The Texas Association of Business was among those that opposed the new math curriculum, arguing that they don't place enough focus on basics like algebra.